5.3 Property Tax

Begin by writing 70% as 0.7, $410 billion as 410,000,000,000, and letting T be the total property tax. Then solve for T.

So, the lost revenue is about $586,000,000,000.

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Checkpoint Solution

Sample answer:

I think that allowing religious organizations to be exempt from property tax is a violation of the first amendment. A church is just another type of club, but it gets special treatment due to its religious nature. Churches can be enormously profitable and the only benefits they provide are to their own members. In order for any other organization to gain tax-exempt status, they must adhere to rules and regulations, declare their income, and prove their worth to society as a whole.

It is wrong to offer benefits to religious institutions because it assumes that all religious institutions benefit society by merely existing. Churches do not need to perform any service at all in order to get these massive exemptions; they merely need to declare themselves religious to be tax-free, which puts a larger tax burden on non-members.

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The bigger issue is non-profits. There are numerous non-profits that bring in millions in revenue, but do not pay a dime in property tax. Several communities are struggling because much of their potential property tax base is unavailable because it is owned by non-profit organizations.

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Guest8 years ago |

I don't understand why churches are allowed to own millions of dollars worth of property without having to pay property tax. The Web site www.taxthechurches.org has several arguments about why churches should pay property taxes.